As a hart longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for You, O Beloved.
My soul thirst for the Beloved, for the Living Water.
When may I come and behold your face?
Tears have been my only nourishment day and night,
While friends ask continually, “Why do you seem so lost and forlorn?”
All this I remembered, as I poured out my soul:
How I knew your Presence within me as I went out among the throng,
proceeding to the House of Prayer;
With loud voice we gave You praise and acclamation,
a multitude proclaiming gratitude and joy.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
My hope is in the Beloved, my strength and my joy,
O my soul, open the door to Love!
My soul is cast down within me, yet I remember You
From my mother’s womb to maturity, through all the days of my life.
Deep calls to deep at the thunder of your waterfalls;
All your waves and your billows have washed over me.
By day You lead me in steadfast love; at night your song is within me,
prayer from the Heart of my heart.
I say to the Beloved, the Blessed One, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why go I mourning because of the oppression and fear?”
As with a deadly wound in my body, I feel the pain of war and injustice;
while the powerful seem to destroy, the innocent seem of no account.
O my soul, let not the quagmire of war keep me from radiating your peace,
your love and light to the world.
My hope is in You, O Spirit of Truth; be my strength and my guide.
O my soul, let us celebrate the Oneness of all Creation!
Bring justice to the people, O Beloved,
and strength on my behalf to stand firm against oppression;
From all that is greedy and unjust deliver me!
For You are the One in whom I take refuge; yet, Have You abandoned me?
Why go I mourning because of the oppression of ignorance?
O, send out your light and your truth; let them guide me,
Let them lead me to your holy altar, to the inner home of integrity!
Then will I know You, Heart of my heart, my exceeding joy;
And I will praise You with song, O my Beloved, my Awakener.
Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me?
My hope is in the Beloved, my strength and my joy, O my soul, open the door to Love!
Yes! Let us sing a song of diversity, a song of Oneness and Unity!
For we are all One in Love’s Heart, now and forevermore.
Let us ever reflect the Peace we are!
Nan C. Merrill Psalms for Praying
Reflection:
Beloved, I take refuge in you and yet I feel separated from your presence.
The psalmist’s tears are a plea for connection. Even as she drowns in this plea, she thirsts for God; longing to be in the presence of God as she was before. The psalmist trusts and believes that God can hear her petitions even when she can’t hear God’s voice. God is with her and yet she longs for a deeper connection. She asks to be led into that loving presence again. She talks to her soul, feels the deep unrest, and still wills her soul to open the door to Love.
The psalmist asks God to send light to guide her, truth to lead her on a journey towards God. This prayer might be coming from the middle of a pilgrimage story, when life is messy and confusing. In the midst of deep despair, she knows that only God can provide the hope that she needs to move forward so she reinstates her consent to God’s presence and action in her life.
We have found ourselves, especially in times of transition or crisis, longing for the awareness of God’s presence, for a tangible reminder that God is with us. Maybe it feels like being anxious; we know that we are breathing and yet we long for a deeper breath. Or maybe it’s like panicking about getting everything completed and we chug a high energy drink when we know we need water. We won’t suffocate or die of thirst, but we are no where near taking deep calming breaths or quenching our thirst. Longing for relationship with the Divine is like that too. We know Love is present but we long to feel it more deeply. We long to be renewed.
O my soul, why are you disquieted? O my soul, open the door to Love!
Check out other psalm reflections in the links below or find more of my writing published in Presbyterian Outlook or listen to my experiments in podcasting on the Period Pastor Podcast. Follow me @periodpastor
I began writing Psalm reflections during Lent of 2020. Shortly after, we decided to close the church building, work from home, and worship via zoom. Many churches use the Revised Common Lectionary (RLC) that rotates scripture on a three-year cycle (A, B, and C). Starting in Advent 2019, the church decided to worship with the texts from Year D, which is still not circulated as are years A, B, and C. Year D was created with the goal of including scriptures that were left out or not used as frequently as others. While we were using Psalms in year D, most other lectionary followers were using Year A. In Advent of 2020 we rejoined those who use the lectionary in year B. Advent of 2021 year C. When we returned to in person worship, we took the psalm reflections out of the order of worship. I continued to write them for the blog. Advent of 2022 year A. I left church work in July of 2023 but continued the practice of writing psalm reflections. Advent of 2023 year B.
I use the Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s resource for lectionary readings to make text selections.
1st Sunday in Advent Psalm 25, 2nd Sunday in Advent instead of a Psalm the lectionary gives Luke 1:68-79, 3rd Sunday in Advent instead of a Psalm the lectionary gives Isaiah 12:2-6, 4th Sunday in Advent Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 80, Christmas Eve or Christmas Day Psalm 96, Psalm 97, Psalm 98, 1st Sunday after Christmas, Psalm 148, New Year’s Day Psalm 8, 2nd Sunday after Christmas Psalm 147, Epiphany Psalm 72, 1st Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 29, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 36, 3rd Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 19, 4th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 71, 5th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 138, 6th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 1, 7th Sunday after Epiphany Psalm 37, Transfiguration Sunday (Sunday before Lent) Psalm 99
Lent: Ash Wednesday Psalm 51, 1st Sunday in Lent Psalm 91, 2nd Sunday in Lent Psalm 27, 3rd Sunday in Lent Psalm 63, 4th Sunday in Lent Psalm 32, 5th Sunday in Lent Psalm 126, 6th Sunday in Lent (Palm or Passion Sunday) Psalm 118 or 31
Easter: Easter Psalm 118 or Psalm 114, 2nd Sunday of Easter Psalm 118 or Psalm 150, 3rd Sunday of Easter Psalm 30, 4thSunday of Easter Psalm 23 or 114, 5th Sunday of Easter Psalm 148, 6th Sunday of Easter Psalm 67 or 109, Ascension Psalm 47 or Psalm 93, 7th Sunday of Easter Psalm 97 or Psalm 2, Day of Pentecost Psalm 104
Season After Pentecost (Ordinary Time): 1st Sunday after Pentecost (Trinity Sunday) Psalm 8, 2nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 42 and Psalm 43 or Psalm 22, 3rd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 77 or Psalm 16, 4th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 30 or Psalm 66, 5th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 82 or Psalm 25, 6th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 52 or Psalm 15, 7thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 85 or Psalm 138, 8th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 107 or Psalm 49, 9th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 50 or Psalm 33, 10th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 80 or Psalm 82, 11th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 71or Psalm 103, 12th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 81 or Psalm 112, 13th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 139 or Psalm 1, 14thSunday after Pentecost Psalm 14 or Psalm 51, 15th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 79 or Psalm 113, 16th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 91 or Psalm 146, 17th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 137 or Psalm 37, 18th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 66 or Psalm 111, 19th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 119 or Psalm 121, 20th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 65 or Psalm 84, 21st Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 119 or Psalm 32, 22nd Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 145 or Psalm 98 or Psalm 17, 23rdSunday after Pentecost Psalm 98, 24th Sunday after Pentecost Psalm 46.Sources and notes:
“The prayer is about the need of human life for the life that the living God bestows, revives, and preserves. Here it is understood and said very clearly that life depends on God. The need is spoken about in the beginning by the use of the powerful image of thirst.”….”For other uses of thirst as metaphor for her need of God’s presence, see Pss. 63:1-2; 143:6; Isa. 41:17; 55:1.” Mays p. 173
“Psalms 42 and 43 together compose the prayer in which that need is brought to the only one who can meet it. The two psalms are held together by a continuity of language themes and type to compose a prayer for help in first person singular style. There are three parts, each conclude by the same refrain (42:5, 11; 43:5). The first two parts describe the trouble that is the setting of the prayer, and the third presents the petition for help.” Mays pp. 173-174
“… the psalm was composed for a representative individual who speaks with and for a group in the troubled times of the post exilic period when the faithful were at the mercy of other peoples in whose modest they had to live.” Mays p. 174
“Pilgrimage, going to God, is not merely a human project; God must aid from the beginning. One comes to God with the help of God.” Mays p. 175
“To hope in God means that we live eschatologically, that we know and articulate hope and despair simultaneously. …. … neither shall we be able to escape the steadfast love and faithfulness of God, which are manifested in God’s desire to lead us back to God’s own self (see 42:8; 43:3). This is the source of our hope and, indeed, the hope of the world.” NIB p. 425
“Psalm 42 begins book 2 of the Psalter. Multiple ancient manuscripts combine Psalm 42 and 43 as a unit. Most interpreters read them together as one psalm, especially since Psalm 43 lacks a superscription, though the Septuagint and Vulgate insert “a psalm of David” at the beginning of Psalm 43. Psalms 42 and 43 share vocabulary and a refrain, which divides the combined whole into three sections or strophes: 42:1-5; 42:6-11; 43: 1-5. How those strophes are connected reveals much about the interpreter a this or her subject location.” W p. 3
“The superscription of Psalm 42 connects it to the Korahites. Like all of the 117 superscriptions in the Psalter, this one is numbered as v. 1 in Hebrew texts but stands unnumbered (usually in smaller type) in Protestant and Catholic Bibles. Psalm 42-43 introduces a group of Korah psalms in book 2 that includes 42-49, 84-85, and 87-88. According to 1 Chronicles 6:31-48 the Korahites were a guild of Levitical temples singers commanded by king David to sing and play on musical instruments (1 Chr 15:16) in praise of God. They were perhaps responsible for collecting and transmitting particular psalms. Though Chronicles cites harps and lyres as the chief instruments in the religious music of ancient Israel, the archaeological record (iconography, figures, and seals) shows that other instruments were widespread in the culture, including pipes, trumpets, drums, and rattles, and that music was not exclusively the domain of men. The Bible records that drums and voices were used in religious celebrations and that women often played drums and danced, e.g., Judes 11:34-40 (Jephthah’s daughter lamenting before her death); 1 Samuel 18:6 (groups of women celebrating battle victories of Saul and David); and Exodus 15:20 (Miriam and a group of women celebrating the crossing of the Reed Sea). The small hand or frame drum, often translated as “tambourine,” was even known as a “woman’s instrument”. Some contend that it was a sexual symbol in the Hebrew Bible; Jephthah’s daughter bewails her virginity with a drum.” W pp. 3-4
Wisdom Commentary suggests these texts to be read with Psalms 42/43: Numbers 16-18 and 1 Chronicles or Numbers 16-18 and Numbers 12.
“Psalm 42-43 is an individual lament. Laments constitute one distinct literary psalm type identified by Hermann Gunkel in the 1920s in his pioneering work on form criticism. Others include hymns, thanksgivings, and royal psalms, each type having its own form and content growing out of a distinctive setting in life in which that psalm type functioned. Nearly one-third of the 150 psalms are laments, yet the laments are seldom used in worship.” W. p. 6
“It [lament] seeks change from God with metaphorical, evocative, and provocative language, moving from complaint to praise in a process that can bring wholeness and healing to those experiencing brokenness and suffering. Basic trust in God’s power and willingness to receive the lament and change the situation undergird this form.” W p. 6
“How ironic that the thirsting psalmists virtually drowning in her own tears (v. 3a): “My tears have been my food day and night.” W p. 8
“Tears seep through the numbness and isolation created by suffering; feeling nothing functions as an involuntary defense mechanism to keep trauma at bay. From a pastoral care perspective, tears are part of “relationship behavior,” that is, away to express our need for connection, not simply an emotional release.” W p. 8
“Connection with God in the sanctuary means protection, deliverance, and worship joy for the psalmist, in contrast to the psalmist’s current sense of abandonment and isolation.” W p. 9
“The psalmist grieves in Psalm 42-43 as a response to loss. Losses can be several kinds. The psalmist experiences material loss of the temple or sanctuary environs; relationship loss, that is loss of connection with God; role loss as worshiper among other pilgrims; intrapsychic loss of an image of self as protected by God; and functional loss of vigor (being “cast down,” 42:5, 11; 43:5). In short, the psalmist is traumatized.” W p. 12
“John Goldingay rightly sees no resolution in the psalm; God has not responded to the psalmist and little has changed. He appropriately suggests that the refrain functions as a motivation for God to act. God is meant to overhear the psalmist describing herself as being “cast down,” since chances are that print or prophet would rebuke her for saying so.” W p. 13
“Here an allusion to Hannah in 1 Samuel 1 emerges. Eli, the pries at the Shiloh sanctuary, rebukes Hannah with an accusation of drunkenness when she prays silently for a son. Further, the barren Hannah is taunted by her enemy, Peninnah, in vv. 6-7a (Peninnah is tne other wife of her husband, Elkanah), and she is described as weeping, literally, “pouring out my soul” (v. 15) and refusing food (v. 7b). Like the psalmist, Hannah does not express anger toward Peninnah or Eli; instead, “Hannah directs her emotion inwards.” We do not know the complete content of Hannah’s prayer outside of the vow she makes in v. 11, but one can imagine a similar internal conversation as part of her silent prayer. Another superscription of Psalm 42-43 might read: “A prayer of Hannah, when she made pilgrimage to Shiloh to pray for a son.”” W pp. 13-14
“In Psalm 43:2 the psalmist declares: “you are the God in whom I take refuge.” These references express ambiguity. God as refuge is the psalmists hope, but at the same time this metaphor functions as a critique of God’s absence. This is tension marks the life of faith.” W p. 15
Alter, Robert. 2007. The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary New York: W. W. Norton & Company
WBC Allen, Leslie C. 1983. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 101-150. Vol. 21. Waco, TX: Word Books, Publisher.
Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1974. Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible. 8th ed. Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Press.
Bourgeault, C. (2006). Chanting the psalms: A practical guide Audio Book. New Seeds.
Brueggemann, Walter. 2007. Praying the Psalms: Engaging Scripture and the Life of the Spirit. 2nd ed. Eugene, OR: Cascade.
Brueggemann, Walter. 2014. From Whom No Secrets Are Hid: Introducing the Psalms. Edited by Brent A. Strawn. 1st ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
Brueggemann, Walter. Davis Hanskins, Editor. 2022. Our Hearts Wait: Worshiping Through Praise and Lament in the Psalms Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville KY.
Brueggemann, Walter. (2002). Spirituality of the psalms. Augsburg Pub. House.
Brueggemann, Walter. (1984). The Message of the Psalms: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis: Augsburg.
Chilson, Richard, ed. You Shall Not Want: A Spiritual Journey Based on the Psalms. Ave Maria Press, 2009.
Chittister, Joan. (2011). Songs of the heart: reflections on the psalms. John Garratt Publishing.
Cudjoe-Wilkes, G., Wilkes, A. J., & Moss, O. (2022). Psalms for black lives: Reflections for the work of Liberation. Upper Room Books.
WBC Craigie, Peter C. 1983. Psalms 1-50–Word Biblical Commentary. Vol. 19. Waco, TX: Word Books.
Creach, Jerome Frederick Davis. 1998. Psalms: Interpretation Bible Studies. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
DAFLER, J. (2021). PSOBRIETY: A journey of recovery through the psalms. Louisville, KY: WESTMINSTER JOHN KNOX.
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Green, Barbara. 1997. Like a Tree Planted: An Exploration of Psalms and Parables Through Metaphor. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
W Hopkins, Denise Dombkowski. WISDOM COMMENTARY: Psalms Bks. 2-3. Edited by Barbara E. Reid. Vol. 21. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical, 2016.
NIB Keck, Leander E. 2015. The New Interpreters Bible Commentary. Vol. 3. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Lewis, C. S. (2017). Reflections on the Psalms. Harper One, an imprint of Harper Collins Publishers.
Mays, James Luther. 1994. Psalms. Louisville, KY: John Knox Press.
McCann, J. C. (1993). A theological introduction to the book of Psalms: The Psalms as Torah. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
McCann, J. C., & Howell, J. C. 2001. Preaching the Psalms. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.
Merrill, N. C. (2020). Psalms for praying an invitation to wholeness (10th Anniversary Edition ed.). London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Miller, Patrick D. 1986. Interpreting the Psalms. Philadelphia, PA: Fortress Press.
Morgan, Michael. 2010. The Psalter for Christian Worship Revised Edition. Westminster John Knox Press.
Schlimm, Matthew Richard. 2018. 70 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. Nashville, TN: Abington Press.
Spong, M. (Ed.). (2020). The words of her mouth: Psalms for the struggle. Cleveland, OH: The Pilgrim Press.
WBC Tate, Marvin E. 1990. Word Biblical Commentary: Psalms 51-100. Edited by David Allan. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker. Vol. 20. Waco, TX: Word.
Weems, Ann. 1995. Psalm of Lament. Westminster John Knox Pres
OTL Weiser, Artur. 1998. Old Testament Library: Psalms. Translated by Herbert Hartwell. 3rd ed. New York, NY: Manchester University Press.
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